Reflection
Embodied rhetoric and mētis took shape within Ravensbrück concentration camp for women in many different ways.
At arrival, the women prisoners were stripped, shaved, subjected to a humiliating medical exam, and issued a uniform. Color coded triangles on their uniforms and prisoner numbers were the only means of identification by guards. The triangles spoke as to which bodies were political prisoners, Jewish, Jehovah's Witness, Roma, etc. These markers allowed the guards to identify how particular prisoners would be treated.
Forced labor (much of which had no purpose), unethical medical experiments, and cramped and overcrowded barracks coincided with beatings and cruel torture by guards.
All of this was done to remind the women that they were viewed by their captors as less than human and not worthy of life.
Guards had their own bodily rhetoric in the SS insignia worn on their uniforms, and how they conducted themselves (forbidden from sitting down or crossing their arms in view of the prisoners). Always standing, many with vicious dogs by their side, sent a clear message as to who was in charge.
After the war ended, the women's bodies told their stories, particularly those of the 'rabbits.' Using their bodies as evidence, the women were able to testify against and help convict doctors and nurses of war crimes.